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Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese footballing superstar, has reportedly abstained from voting on the Ballon d’Or 2024, and he is expected to miss the highly awaited award ceremony to crown the best football player of the calendar year. The 39-year-old was “very upset” with the award ruling, and he let it known to the chief of Ballon d’Or, Vincent Garcia, who revealed the information to the media.
Notably, Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who wasn’t shortlisted for the prestigious prize this year, didn’t vote last year either, and he also liked a post which claimed that Lionel Messi’s win was “unfair,” as per the report from Latestly. For the upcoming Ballon d’Or, there are many strong contenders for the win, including names like Rodri, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr, Erling Haaland, and Dani Carvajal.
Cristiano didn’t vote last year and he didn’t vote this year either: Ballon d'Or Chief
As per the Ballon d’Or tradition, since the former winners get a chance to vote for the award, Cristiano Ronaldo had the opportunity to pick his winner for 2024, but according to Vincent Garcia, he is abstaining from it. The Chief of the Ballon d’Or said, “Winners have the right to come back to all future ceremonies, but they don’t all come, some are very upset with us. I don’t know for certain Cristiano is, I don’t talk to him directly, but I know for example that former winners vote for the Kopa Trophy – for the best young player – and Cristiano didn’t vote last year and he didn’t vote this year either.”
Moreover, Vincent Garcia also spoke about how Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were not being shortlisted for the upcoming Ballon d’Or award, and remarked, “If they were on the shortlist this year, I’m sure they would have got some votes. Both Messi and Ronaldo might not be on the Ballon d’Or 2024 shortlist but leading their teams in the MLS and Saudi Pro League respectively.”
The alleged leak of the Ballon d’Or result from YEN.com.gh has revealed Vinicius Jr as the winner with 630 votes, while Rodri with 576 votes will be the runners-up for the year 2024.
